This November, over 1500 founders, thought leaders and ecosystem enablers are all set to come together for the Startup Grind Pakistan Conference, the first-of-its-kind gathering in Pakistan based around stimulating conversations about technology and its role in innovation for Pakistan. Globally successful Pakistani entrepreneurs, innovators and technologists are participating in the conference to tell their stories, inspire young entrepreneurs and share how Pakistan as a country can emulate their achievements.

The very first edition of Startup Grind Pakistan Conference 2019 is happening on the 4th and 5th of November, with over 55 speakers and over a 100 mentors and industry experts from Pakistan and abroad. The speakers include Safwan Shah (Payactiv); Saad Bashir (City Of Seattle); Dr. Waheed Qureshi (Mesmer); Sabah Baxamoosa (Gsvlabs); Murtaza Ahmed (Softbank); Atif Awan (Indus Valley Capital/Ex Linkedin); Shoaib Makani (Keeptruckin); Melissa Sassi (IBM); Felipe Millan (Techstars/Sendgrid); Akif Malik (Podium VC);  Mohammad Saleh (Startup Grind Jordan); Naheed Afzal (Tech London Advocates Pakistan); Mashhood Alam (SAP Ariba); Andrew Hyde (Solana/Techstars); Omar Chaudhary (Playermatch.Com); Bilal Ahmed (Sonasoft);  Mudassir Azeemi (Wells Fargo); Adeel Raza (Minder / Mailmunch); Huma Hamid (Pakistani Women In Computing, Pwic); Sheba Najmi (Code For Pakistan/Linkedin); Majid Khan (Jabberwock Ventures); Jamaludin Bujang (Gobi Partners); Shane Shin (Shorooq Investments); Kunal Savjani (Shorooq Investments); Dr. Bernhard Klemen (Sarmayacar); Mostafa Kandil (SWVL); Faisal Aftab (Lakson Investments Venture Capital, LIVC); Kalsoom Lakhani (Invest2Innovate);  Zouhair Khaliq (TeamUp); Yasser Bashir (Arbisoft);  Ali Mukhtar (Fatima Ventures); Khurram Zafar (47 Ventures); Rabeel Warraich (Sarmayacar); Muneeb Maayr (Bykea); Faizan Aslam (Bookme.pk); Ingrid Johansson (Embassy Of Sweden – Islamabad); Sadia Khurram (Jazz); Bernhard Schlagheck (Embassy Of Germany – Islamabad); Nadeem Hussain (Planet N Group Of Companies); Sidra Iqbal (Aaj News); Misbah Naqvi (I2I Ventures); Hassan Saeed (Business Consultant); Zain Haider Awan (Re:Coded); Ahmed Khan (Cheetay Logistics Pvt. Ltd.); Umar Saif (Geo/Jang Media Group); Magnus Sparrholm (Talkpool) And Humayun Mazhar (Cresventures) to name a few.

“Pakistan has produced the minds behind some of the world’s leading tech companies including Afiniti ($1.6 billion AI startup), KeepTruckin ($1.25 billion startup), FireEye (world’s leading cyber security company), Cavium (sold for $6 billion) and many others. As a country, we need to celebrate these entrepreneurs as heroes and give them the platform to help Pakistan – Startup Grind is that platform, bringing back more than 55 globally successful Pakistani entrepreneurs, innovators and technologists from Silicon Valley and around the world”, states Arzish Azam, CEO Ejad Labs & Lead organizer of Startup Grind Pakistan Conference.

The current size of the IT industry of Pakistan is an estimated $2.6 billion, with its contribution to the GDP being 1.4%. Pakistan has the talent and immense potential to tap into increasing its IT exports and strengthen the industry further. The very first Startup Grind Pakistan Conference aims to start a conversation about the potential of tech innovation and increase the awareness of youth about using technology to take fuel economic growth in Pakistan. Be a part of the premiere Startup Grind Pakistan Conference and explore ways to contribute to Pakistan’s tech industry.